Millennials Are Causing the U.S. Divorce Rate to Plummet

From Bloomberg-

Americans under the age of 45 have found a novel way to rebel against their elders: They’re staying married.

New data show younger couples are approaching relationships very differently from baby boomers, who married young, divorced, remarried and so on. Generation X and especially millennials are being pickier about who they marry, tying the knot at older ages when education, careers and finances are on track. The result is a U.S. divorce rate that dropped 18 percent from 2008 to 2016, according to an analysis by University of Maryland sociology professor Philip Cohen.

Demographers already knew the divorce rate was falling, even if the average American didn’t. Their question, however, was why? And what do current trends mean for the marital prospects of today’s newlyweds?

More here-

https://www.bloomberg.com/amp/news/articles/2018-09-25/millennials-are-causing-the-u-s-divorce-rate-to-plummet

ON BEING A MILLENNIAL PASTOR – LEADERS WHO DON’T REMEMBER THE GLORY DAYS

From Erik Parker-

“You give us hope for the future.”

The first time I heard those words, I was 23 years old and in seminary. A group of us had travelled 7 hours, from the prairies to the mountains, to attend a study conference for pastors and other church professionals. We were a group of 20 and 30 somethings, all Masters of Divinity students already having bachelor’s degrees and work experience, but compared to the average age of pastors in the mainline, we may as well have been teenagers. So we probably seemed like a group of disruptive students crashing a conference for older folks.

But instead of being grumpy with us or giving us glares (as church folk can sometimes be guilty of doing with young noise makers), we were heartily welcomed by our future colleagues. Our relative energy and enthusiasm seemed to bring them some life and excitement.

And that is when it started happening. Sometimes one or more elder colleagues would sidle up to us and say things like, “You all give me hope for the church’s future” or “You make me feel better about the future.”

More here-

https://millennialpastor.net/2018/03/12/on-being-a-millennial-pastor-leaders-who-dont-remember-the-glory-days/

So You Want Millennials In Your Church?

From Dallas-

1) Take your liturgy seriously

If Millennials do not get the idea that the Holy Eucharist on Sunday morning is the source and summit of Christian worship on earth, they won’t be coming back, especially since we spend so much time on it! The “main event” in our service is not preaching, nor music, nor fellowship, crucial as these are.

I was recently having a conversation with a Millennial who told me he wanted to leave his church, and I asked him why. “Our priest is way too casual about the service, “ he said. “It just seemed like he didn’t care about the ritual and tried way too hard to dumb it down and make it ‘user friendly.’” He said it felt disrespectful, dishonoring to Jesus.

The holy sacrifice of the Eucharist joins us to the worship of heaven, with angels and archangels. If our altar party isn’t there to offer God their selves, souls, and bodies, Millennials will know, and they won’t put up with it. If your preaching has no urgency, if you’re cavalier about your music, if your chalice bearers are wearing purple flip flops…you’re guaranteeing Millennial disinterest.

Our generation was raised to believe that we could create ourselves ex nihilo, that we are the sum of our desires, ambitions, and deepest longings. That our projections on social media have metaphysical significance. Liturgy is the wake-up call, the antidote, theno. It reminds us that we aren't "self-made men," and it connects us to the Transcendent. Our tradition can do for Millennials what the big box megachurches could never do. Lean into it.

2) Don’t assume that making the Church “contemporary” (whatever that means) will automatically attract Millennials.

More here-

http://edod.org/resources/articles/so-you-want-millennials-in-your-church/

Millennials fueling resurgence in candidates for priesthood

From Crux-

Father Benedict O’Cinnsealaigh looks out his office window at the courtyard below, marveling at how much his view has changed in just a few weeks.

Once home to green grass and well-manicured shrubs, the courtyard is now a muddy mess. Heavy equipment rumbles throughout the day and temporary fences surround ditches and overturned earth.

O’Cinnsealaigh thinks it’s beautiful. As president of Mount St. Mary’s Seminary at The Athenaeum of Ohio, he knows what this big construction project means for the Catholic Church in Cincinnati.

“We have a future here,” he says.

More here-

https://cruxnow.com/church-in-the-usa/2017/12/31/millennials-fueling-resurgence-candidates-priesthood/

Church of England Resurrects Tradition to Attract Millennials

From Church Leaders-

In the past we’ve touched on the delicate balance that churches must maintain while appealing to millennials without pandering or changing theology. But what if we’re focusing our efforts in the wrong places?

What if the loud music and fog machines are actually clouding the Holy Spirit and preventing people from connecting with God? What if, instead of adapting to a modernized culture with our church services, we kicked it old school? Like, really old.

Well, that’s exactly what the Church of England is doing. Despite growing secularism in the country, the church has seen attendance grow over the past several years with the help of a centuries-old liturgical tradition: Evensong. Choral Evensong is an evening prayer service that is delivered mostly through song, offering a restful, reflective time to worship God and pause from the busy-ness of life. The choir performs live and is often highly skilled and well-trained.

More here-

https://churchleaders.com/news/international/310736-evensong-church-of-england-resurrects-tradition-attract-millennials.html?utm_source=outreach-cl-daily-nl&utm_medium=email&utm_content=text-link&utm_campaign=cl-daily-nl&maropost_id=743178810&mpweb=256-4632457-743178810

Student, researcher reflect on reasons behind rise in religious "nones"

From The Indiana Daily Student-

Every Sunday IU freshman Isaac Thuesen’s parents wake up, put on their Sunday best and attend Mass at their episcopal church in Indianapolis. Sixty miles away, Thuesen is still in bed in his dorm room.

Thuesen grew up going to church regularly. At the age of 9, he became a choir boy who attended weekly rehearsals and sang at two Sunday Masses every week, but now Thuesen identifies as agnostic and hasn’t gone to church since coming to IU.

“I probably would have left the church even before that if it wasn’t such an important tradition in my family,” he said.

More here-

http://www.idsnews.com/article/2017/04/student-researcher-reflect-on-reasons-behind-rise-in-religious-nones

Just Give Me Jesus: A Closer Look at Christians Who Don’t Go to Church

From Christianity Today-

When you ask someone about their faith, expect to hear a qualifier.

Of course, there’s “spiritual but not religious,” a category that 11 percent of Americans now fall into, according to Barna Group research. (The figure could be at least double that if applied to all without a particular religious affiliation, often referred to as the “nones.”)

But even Christianity comes with caveats. Some try to change up the term by saying, “I’m not a Christian, but a Christ-follower.”

#ImChristianBut trended on Twitter a couple years ago, in the wake of a BuzzFeed video of young Christians butting against what they saw as negative stereotypes of Christians. They said lines like “I’m Christian, but I’m not homophobic” and “I’m Christian, but I’m not closed-minded.”

Before that, the spoken word poem “Why I Hate Religion, But Love Jesus” took off with a message that confronted frustrations with religious legalism. It now has 32 million YouTube views.

More here-

http://www.christianitytoday.com/gleanings/2017/april/love-jesus-not-church-barna-spiritual-but-not-religious.html

Millennials haven’t forgotten spirituality, they’re just looking for new venues

From PBS-

JUDY WOODRUFF: Finally, as the world’s Christians begin Lent, a six-week period of introspection in preparation for Easter, reflections from Casper ter Kuile, a researcher at Harvard University, who shares his humble opinion on the soul survival happening outside America’s churches.

CASPER TER KUILE, Harvard University: I grew up never going to church.

And as a 30-year-old married man, I still don’t, not because I don’t value reflection, community, even the experience of the divine. I do. But traditional religious congregations don’t appeal to me. And I’m not alone.

Millennials are turning away from religion faster than any other age group. And according to the Pew Research Center, more than a third of Americans between 18 and 35 are now unaffiliated, meaning, when asked on a survey what religious identity they hold, they answer none of the above.

More here-

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/millennials-havent-forgotten-spirituality-theyre-just-looking-new-venues/#.WLqAsshzwXQ.facebook

Want millennials back in the pews? Stop trying to make church ‘cool.’

From The Washington Post-

Bass reverberates through the auditorium floor as a heavily bearded worship leader pauses to invite the congregation, bathed in the light of two giant screens, to tweet using #JesusLives. The scent of freshly brewed coffee wafts in from the lobby, where you can order macchiatos and purchase mugs boasting a sleek church logo. The chairs are comfortable, and the music sounds like something from the top of the charts. At the end of the service, someone will win an iPad.

This, in the view of many churches, is what millennials like me want. And no wonder pastors think so. Church attendance has plummeted among young adults. In the United States, 59 percent of people ages 18 to 29 with a Christian background have, at some point, dropped out. According to the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life, among those of us who came of age around the year 2000, a solid quarter claim no religious affiliation at all, making my generation significantly more disconnected from faith than members of Generation X were at a comparable point in their lives and twice as detached as baby boomers were as young adults.

More here-

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/jesus-doesnt-tweet/2015/04/30/fb07ef1a-ed01-11e4-8666-a1d756d0218e_story.html?utm_term=.eafa8886b5cb

Millennials and religion: The great disconnect

From Pittsburgh-

Olivia Burk, 22, has attended church fewer than 10 times.

“I stood there not taking much from the sermons, and people would sing and shake my hand and I felt very uncomfortable and out of place,” Ms. Burk said.

Ms. Burk, who lives in Pittsburgh and is an instructional aide to children with autism, doesn’t identify as atheist but does not believe in God or practice religion.

She says it stems from the fact that she was raised in a family with one Christian parent and one religiously unaffiliated. To avoid conflict, the family treated religion “just as if it wasn’t ever a thing,” Ms. Burk said. “I grew up without any religion in my household my whole life.”

She’s among a growing group of millennials, the generation ages 18 to 34, who identify as nonreligious.

More here-

http://www.post-gazette.com/news/state/2015/12/13/Millennials-and-religion-The-great-disconnect/stories/201512130098

Rachel Held Evans: You don’t have to give away iPads at church to reach millennials

From North Carolina-

Christian author-blogger Rachel Held Evans has what most churches long for these days: A big following among millennials.

At last count, Evans, 34 and due to become a mom in February, has about 82,000 Twitter followers and about 64,000 fans on Facebook. And her books are popular. Her latest is “Searching for Sunday: Loving, Leaving and Finding the Church.”

On Sunday (Nov. 22), Evans will be at Charlotte’s Christ Episcopal Church for a public conversation with the Rev. Chip Edens, the church’s rector. Evans grew up evangelical in Tennessee, but now attends an Episcopal church in Cleveland, Tenn.

The Observer spoke with her recently about why she left evangelicalism, what she likes about being Episcopalian, how churches can attract more young people and how her soon-to-arrive son is coloring her faith. Here’s the edited interview.

Read more here:

http://www.charlotteobserver.com/living/religion/article45469851.html#storylink=cpy

'Nones' are 'someones' in vibrant U.S. religious landscape

From Huffington-

The end is not near for religion in America - or elsewhere in the world.

What analysts are trying to divine, however, is the mystery of why more people are indicating "none" when asked their religious affiliation.

Does the evidence fewer people are identifying with specific faith groups herald a long-term loss of religious beliefs?

The debate gained momentum this month with the release of a Pew Research Center survey finding a substantial increase in the number of Americans who do not claim a religious affiliation. A few days earlier, prominent Baylor University scholars addressed the issue in a symposium on "The End of Religion?"

More here-

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-briggs/nones-are-someones-in-vib_b_7314554.html

Dear Church: An open letter from one of those millennials you can’t figure out

From Ponder Anew-

A lot’s been made over the millennial generation and their religious life. Why they go to church. Why they don’t go to church. What they want. What they hate.

I’m going to do something different here. I’m not going to cite Barna. I’m not going to quote Rachel Held Evans. I’m not going to link to any articles or blog posts.

I’m just going to tell you what’s true for me, and what I’ve seen to be true of others like me.

I am one of those rascally millennials, by the way. One of those enigmatic, paradoxical, media-dependent, coffee-drinking young people swept together under this millennial umbrella. Except coffee tears up my stomach, so I dropped that stuff.

I was crushed the day slap bracelets were banned from my elementary school. I remember hiding in my room with my five-inch TV to watch Friends and Seinfeld and the Simpsons, and all the other shows I wasn’t allowed to see. I don’t remember what it’s like to not have a home computer. I can barely recall a time before cell phones. I’ve never left home without one.

More here-

http://www.theologyinworship.com/2015/05/13/dear-church-an-open-letter-from-one-of-those-millennials-you-cant-figure-out/

Want millennials back in the pews? Stop trying to make church ‘cool.’

From The Washington Post (Rachel Held Evans)-

Bass reverberates through the auditorium floor as a heavily bearded worship leader pauses to invite the congregation, bathed in the light of two giant screens, to tweet using #JesusLives. The scent of freshly brewed coffee wafts in from the lobby, where you can order macchiatos and purchase mugs boasting a sleek church logo. The chairs are comfortable, and the music sounds like something from the top of the charts. At the end of the service, someone will win an iPad.

This, in the view of many churches, is what millennials like me want. And no wonder pastors think so. Church attendance has plummeted among young adults. In the United States, 59 percent of people ages 18 to 29 with a Christian background have, at some point, dropped out. According to the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life, among those of us who came of age around the year 2000, a solid quarter claim no religious affiliation at all, making my generation significantly more disconnected from faith than members of Generation X were at a comparable point in their lives and twice as detached as baby boomers were as young adults.

More here-

http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/jesus-doesnt-tweet/2015/04/30/fb07ef1a-ed01-11e4-8666-a1d756d0218e_story.html?postshare=571430425649860

Young Evangelicals Are Getting High

From Christian Pundit-

A friend of mine attended a Christian college where almost all of the students, including her, grew up in non-denominational, evangelical Protestant churches. A few years after graduation, she is the only person in her graduating class who is not Roman Catholic,  high Anglican or Lutheran. The town I live in has several “evangelical” Protestant colleges: on Ash Wednesday you can tell who studies at them by the ash crosses on their foreheads.

Young Christians are going over to Catholicism and high Anglicanism/Lutheranism in droves, despite growing up in low Protestant churches that told them about Jesus. It’s a trend that is growing, and it looks like it might go that way for a while: people who grew up in stereotypical, casual evangelicalism are running back past their parents’ church to something that looks like it was dug out of Europe a couple hundred years ago at least. It’s encouraged by certain emergent leaders and by other “Christian” authors whose writings promote “high” theology under a Protestant publisher’s cover.

More here-

http://thechristianpundit.org/2013/07/17/young-evangelicals-are-getting-high/

The Unexpected Things Millennials Want in Church

From Relevant-

What Millennials want out of church” is a pretty difficult question to answer, but a synopsis might be summed up as “a church that’s like (streaming music service) Pandora, that could also act as a spiritual guide and confidant.”

A study just released by church stats experts The Barna Group found that millennials (defined here as those between the ages of 14 and 30) are nothing if not hard to nail down.

The Building Matters

For the current generation of young adults, getting into the parking lot doesn’t mean that actual church attendance will happen. “Visual clarity” is a very big deal to millennials, and the study found that when things got confusing, whether it was where to go to find the sanctuary, or how to take part in rituals in traditional services, visitors would simply leave rather than try to find the answer.

Read more at 

 

http://www.relevantmagazine.com/god/church/unexpected-things-millennials-want-church#7kuPVkmibCKgBwqx.99

Young people appear less interested in organized worship

From Nevada-

Call them the None of the Above Generation … religiously speaking.

Not godless, per se. Perhaps even God-fearing. Just not eager to wear a label other than that of secular individualist.

Such is the trend among Millennials — described most often as those born after 1980 — if polls during the past few years are on target.

In 2012, a Pew Research Center study found that young adults are less religious than any other age group, with nearly a third declining to affiliate with any organized religion. They’re also less devout than previous generations were at the same point in their lives.

In April, the American Bible Society sounded an alarm when it released its annual “State of the Bible” survey. Among the findings, percentagewise, about Millennials compared with adults overall: They are less likely to consider the Bible sacred literature (64 percent versus 79 percent); to “believe the Bible contains everything a person needs to know to lead a meaningful life” (35 percent versus 50 percent); or even read the Bible (26 percent versus 39 percent).

More here-

https://www.reviewjournal.com/life/religion/young-people-appear-less-interested-organized-worship

Millennials warn churches against catering to their generation

From American Baptist-

Many American congregations are modernizing worship in an effort to lure Millennials and other young people either into church or back to church.

“For some, the instinct is to radically alter the old model: out with the organ, in with the Fender [guitar],” Christian writer Andrea Palpant Dilley wrote recently for Churchleaders.com.

But that could be a big mistake, Dilley said, because not all Millennials want the same thing when it comes to worship. It’s also risky because Millennials, like anyone else, often change their minds.

Dilley was raised Presbyterian but traded its rituals for hipper, nondenominational churches before returning to more liturgical, traditional sanctuaries.

More here-

http://www.abpnews.com/ministry/congregations/item/29016-millennials-warn-churches-against-catering-to-their-generation

How to keep Millennials in the church? Let’s keep church un-cool.

From The Washington Post (last month)

Last week a column on CNN’s Belief Blog titled “Why Millennials Are Leaving the Church” went viral, partially because any time the words “Millennials,” “leaving,” and “church” are combined in a headline, people pay attention.

But why? Why do we care so much about the reasons Millennials are reportedly leaving churches?

I’m a Millennial, but I am weary of everyone caring so much about why Millennials do this or don’t do that. I’m sorry Millennials, but I’m going to have to throw us under the bus here: we do not have everything figured out. And if we expect older generations and well-established institutions to morph to fit our every fickle desire, we do so at our peril.

The CNN piece, written by Rachel Held Evans, makes some good points, to be sure. The line that I saw shared on Facebook more than any other is this:

“We’re not leaving the church because we don’t find the cool factor there; we’re leaving the church because we don’t find Jesus there.”

I wholeheartedly agree. I made the same point three years ago with my book Hipster Christianity, and in a Wall Street Journal column called “The Perils of Wannabe Cool Christianity,” where I wrote:

“If the evangelical Christian leadership thinks that ‘cool Christianity’ is a sustainable path forward, they are severely mistaken. As a twentysomething, I can say with confidence that when it comes to church, we don’t want cool as much as we want real.”

It’s certainly important to remind the church that efforts to be cool will do little if anything to keep young people engaged. It often has the opposite effect.

More here-

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/on-faith/wp/2013/07/31/how-to-keep-millennials-in-the-church-lets-keep-church-un-cool/

A Reluctant Millennial On The State of Church

From Religion Dispatches-

Everyone is talking about “millennials” and the church. What started with a short piece on CNN by evangelical Rachel Held Evans feels like it has inspired every protestant in the blogosphere to get on his or her own soapbox in response. What is the big deal about so-called “millennials,” and why are they supposedly leaving the church?

It’s tempting to just say, “Oh, shut up already!” Everytime I hear the word “millennial” I cringe. “Is that what I am?” I wonder. “Thanks for clearing things up for me.”

I come to the topic as a theologically educated young woman who doesn’t identify with much of what’s been said about “my generation” lately. Sure, I wear skinny jeans and I’m technologically proficient, but I’m not very cool. I go to a tiny church that really loves the bible and sings hymns a capella. I do crazy things like pray and study theology. I actually believe in God, which is about as uncool as it gets in many circles.

The main reason I didn’t leave church? Someone made me read Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s Life Together in college, and someone else suggested I think about seminary. So, even though I was (and am) a flaming liberal feminist, I stuck it out, and entered into a lifelong lover’s quarrel with God and the church.

More here-

http://www.religiondispatches.org/archive/atheologies/7227/a_reluctant_millennial_on_the_state_of_church/?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter